SOCAN AND CAJE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE 2009 PHIL NIMMONS COMPOSITION AWARDS WINNERS:
Emerging Composer: Darcy James Argue
Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue directs Secret Society, a “powerful and well-stocked ensemble” (New York Times) featuring his “ambitious, sprawling, mesmerizing” music (Montreal Gazette). Secret Society is an 18-piece steampunk bigband that envisions an alternative musical history, one in which the dance orchestras that ruled the Swing Era never went extinct, but continued to evolve with the times, remaining a vital part of the musical landscape straight through the present day. Argue’s compositions bring together “a big, broad musical vocabulary” (New York Times), one which invokes “Duke Ellington and minimalism and Tortoise and Funkadelic and Elliott Carter and much else besides melding into one floating, shifting, dodging music” (zoilus.com).
Secret Society includes powerful soloists like Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Sam Sadigursky (saxophones), and Ryan Keberle (trombone), and is anchored by the “scarily good” (nightafternight.com) rhythm section of Matt Clohesy (bass) and Jon Wikan (drums). The group headlined a night at the 2008 New Languages Festival, a performance All About Jazz called “the highlight of the evening.” They have performed at a variety of venues around NYC, including Le Poisson Rouge, the Jazz Gallery, the Living Theatre, Makor, Flux Factory, and the Bowery Poetry Club, and recently completed a tour of Eastern Canada. Their deubt recording will be released on New Amsterdam Records in May 2009.
Established Composer: Mike Malone
Trumpet player and composer/arranger, Mike Malone has been part of the Canadian jazz music scene since the early 1970’s. As a member of Nimmons ‘N’ 9 plus 6, he played on the historic recording of The Atlantic Suite – winner of the first Juno Award for Jazz. His compositions and arrangements have been recorded by: the Ted Moses Quintet, the Mother Necessity Big Band, the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra, Ranee Lee, The Alex Dean Quintet and the 11:00 O’Clock big band of the University of Toronto.
Since 1986 he has been a member of the full-time faculty at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario, teaching courses in theory and composition, ear training, jazz improvisation and trumpet.
Currently, he plays with Ted’s Warren Commission, the Darcy Hepner Big Band and continues to write for and perform with the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra.
In addition to his work at Mohawk College, Mike conducts improvisation workshops at York University in Toronto.
